Dispensing plastic closures have come into widespread use by virtue of the convenience by which they permit consumers to readily manipulate the closure for dispensing contents from an associated container. This type of closure typically includes a closure body for fitment to the associated container, with the body defining one or more dispensing openings through which the contents of the container can be dispensed. This type of closure further includes a flip-top lid pivotally joined to the closure body, such as by a living hinge, so that the lid can be moved between open and closed positions with respect to the closure body, thereby opening and closing the dispensing opening. These types of closures are particularly useful on flowable food products, such as condiments or the like, with use on deformable (i.e., squeezable) containers further facilitating convenient dispensing.
Closures of this type are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,444, No. 6,234,334, and No. 6,405,885, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
As will be appreciated, it is desirable to provide this type of dispensing closure with a tamper-indicating or tamper-evident feature, whereby consumers can readily visually discern whether the flip-top lid of the closure has been previously opened. While it is known to provide separate seal elements or the like applied to such closures for tamper-indication, the use of such additional sealing elements complicates closure manufacture. It is thus desirable to configure such a dispensing closure to include an integral tamper-indicating arrangement. At the same time, it is desirable that such a tamper-indicating arrangement function without undue complexity, and avoid the need to separate one or more loose components of the closure during initial opening.
The present invention is directed to a one-piece tamper-indicating dispensing closure which can be economically manufactured, is reliable in operation, is easily and conveniently manipulated by consumers, and avoids separation of any loose components during initial opening of the closure.